W.Va. 'bath salts' seller expected to plead guilty

November 9, 2012 12:00 AM

By Torsten Ove Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The owner of two strip-mall head shops in northern West Virginia has agreed to plead guilty on Nov. 26 to distributing "bath salts" -- synthetic hallucinogens -- to hundreds of customers who lined up outside his stores for their fix.

Jeff Paglia, 48, owner of Hot Stuff and Cool Things stores in Clarksburg and Buckhannon, is the main player in one of the largest bath salts cases in the country.

The U.S. attorney's office in Wheeling said Mr. Paglia and a co-conspirator, John Skruck, 56, were largely responsible for the high number of medical incidents in West Virginia related to the use of bath salts, which can induce psychosis and paranoia.

President Barack Obama signed a law this summer outlawing the chemical compounds used in making bath salts, making permanent an emergency ban imposed by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in 2011.

The ban was imposed after DEA tracked a spike in emergency room visits, bizarre behavior and grisly crimes by bath salts users across the U.S.

West Virginia had the most such incidents in the country, and Harrison County -- where Mr. Paglia's store is located in the county seat of Clarksburg -- recorded the most in the state.

Police and federal agents watched in the mornings as dozens of customers lined up outside the store, waiting for it to open, and then left with bath salts packages wrapped in foil.

Mr. Paglia's plea comes after two of his underlings who worked at his stores entered pleas on Monday.

In addition to selling bath salts, Mr. Paglia is charged with maintaining a storage building in Stonewood, W.Va., for the purpose of drug distribution as well as structuring monetary transactions to avoid IRS reporting requirements, a common tactic among drug dealers and organized crime figures.

Banks are required to report any transactions above $10,000, so money-launderers often deposit or withdraw cash in amounts just under that figure. A pattern of such transactions triggers a suspicious activity report to law enforcement.

Agents with the criminal investigation division of the IRS said Mr. Paglia and his corporation, Jemrose Inc., structured deposits totaling $747,430 over a six-month period in 2011.

In addition to the criminal prosecution, the U.S. attorney's office has moved to forfeit 11 properties and various vehicles as well as $750,000 in cash.